Exhausted Rambling

Told you I was doing something sweet >:D

Where before most men only came up to his chin, the last growth spurt had Duncan towering over even Baelor and Maekar with their Martell inherited height, neither of them coming up to the top of his chest.

And the breadth of him. He hadn't just put on a healthy weight since coming to the Redkeep, but also muscle. He was broader than most doorways in the keep now, having to turn sideways to walk into the Hand's solar when called.

The Hand's Half-Giant, many called him, and Baelor couldn't disagree. It really was extraordinary. Imagine, he thought to himself as he watched Duncan heft his sparing partner over his shoulder like he weighed little more than a feather, how large he would have grown if he could have eaten well from childhood.

Maekar is twitching next to him, and it's been ages since they'd fought together. (It's been well over a year since Ashford, and Maekar had avoided sparing with him since, and that was against eachother, not with, so even longer than that. Far too long). And he's been itching to face off against the mountain of muscle that is his sworn sword for some time himself.

It doesn't take as much effort as he thought it would to get Maekar into the ring. Baelor has just a moment to worry about Maekar's desire to fight Duncan over ruling his desire to avoid fighting with Baelor, before Dunk and Maekar in on eachother with a crash of steel that has him swearing and jumping in to join the spar.

Perhaps the 2-on-1 was a bad idea.

Duncan holds up very well against the two princes, and the spar is pretty evenly matched between Duncan's youth and strength and the princes experience and raw talent. Right until Duncan seems to decide that if they're going to play with unfair odds, then he should get to fight dirty.

Sir Duncan is a fine knight. But Dunk from Flea Bottom is a force of fucking nature.

(Baelor is slightly disappointed, as he watches Dunk punt Maekar half across the training yard with a single kick, that he doesn't remember much of the trial at Ashford. He would have enjoyed seeing Aerion getting the shit kicked out of him like a street rat).

And then all thoughts vanish from his mind, as Dunk fully picks him up, all but one handed from the lack of effort he's showing, and he has just enough time to realise he's looking down at Duncan for a change, who looks beautiful with his head between Baelor's legs with a mischievous smile on his face. Enough time to realise he's suddenly so hard it hurts, 0 to 100 in no time at all, with a simple lift of Duncan's arms.

And before he can feel any way about that, he's suddenly left all his organs behind as his body goes flying away from Dunk (did he just throw me??) and is crashing into Maekar, who had got back to his feel but was now on the floor with Bealor in a pile of limbs and broken dreams.

And Bealor can't help but laugh from pure joy. My man is so strong, he thinks to himself, as he fails to separate himself from his swearing brother and stand.

Lady of Orda Cave by Natalia Avseenko and Phototeam.PRO

Two-time world champion free diver Natalia Avseenko ventured deep into Ordynskaya Cave in Perm, Russia… one of the longest and biggest underwater gypsum caves in the world, dressed as the mythical Lady of the Cave, a spirit who protects divers inside the “natural cathedral”.

1. Have proof they're a teenager first. More than just a picture, have a video call with them.

2. If you want to meet up with them, have your parents or a trusted adult come with you. Even if they are a proven teenager, its still good to have supervision in case any issues happen.

3. If you are talking to an adult, and they start being sexual in any way, you run the fuck away. It doesn't matter if they're 40 or 20. An adult inherently has a power dynamic that teenagers do not. And its up to the adult to act responsible about it. There's exceptions of course, if you're 16 and dating an 18 year old, that's not a problem, we're not talking about that.

4. Being in a server with adults or ran by adults is not inherently bad. Talking to adults is not inherently a problem, and will likely happen in any number of Discord servers. It is only an issue when they are acting sexual and show predatory behavior.

5. Look out for grooming behavior. It can be difficult, because at first it seems like innocuous behavior, like complimenting or giving gifts. Especially if you feel lonely and have low self esteem. And groomers actively target people like that.

If they start trying to isolate you, talk sexual with you, state they depend on you for emotional needs, blame you for their own actions, try to be secretive about the relationship- Then you need to talk to people you trust, block the perpetrator, and call the police on them.

i HATE self-censorship for a lot of reasons, but being in crisis work makes it even more frustrating. who are you censoring for? like i am being so fr, WHO are you censoring for? have you even thought it through? people who have been raped know that they have been raped. if someone attempts suicide or is grieving someone who did, saying "sewer slide" isn't going to protect them from any of the feelings. a murder victim's family isn't going to feel better bc you said "unalived" instead of murdered. if anything, it's just extremely invalidating and othering. it's saying "what happened to you is so bad that i won't even say the word," which is NOT trauma-informed care. you are not protecting survivors/victims when you self-censor. the ONLY things you protect when you self-censor are the puritanical ideologies that are being encouraged by rich fascists who want your money and obedience